Embodiments in accordance with the present invention generally relate to telecommunications and more specifically to correlating charges across multiple layers.
Users of various networks and network-compatible devices are increasingly able to purchase or otherwise access a variety of content and services for a fee. For example, a user can download purchased content to a device for playing, viewing, or other such purpose. A user also can use a service, such as to send a message or access a location, whether the use is driven by a subscriber, a third party, or an application or process. Typically, the user incurs costs relating to the fee of the content or service, as well as traffic or network costs for downloading the content or accessing data, voice, or other information provided by or used for the service through a network. In one example, a song can be purchased from an online music store for 0.99 cents. The song then can be downloaded to a network-compatible device, such as a cellular phone or PDA. The user of the device typically is charged by the network provider for each kilobyte transferred across the network. The user is thus charged twice, once by the online music store and another time by the network provider. Also, the traffic costs may be amplified if multiple attempts to download or access the content are required because of network failures or any other problems.
This method of charging can cause problems, as users typically do not want to be responsible for the multiple traffic charges that are incurred when downloads fail. The traffic charges being billed in addition to the price for the content itself also is undesirable. Since the provider of the content or service delivery system and the provider for the network are often different entities, however, these providers typically bill their customers separately and do not provide the ability for a single total fee to be charged for the particular content or service. Charging takes place at the service level then again for data traffic at the network level, and can occur again at the network level if the original download or access did not complete. Thus, users often are charged multiple times for content and services when in actuality the users only wish to purchase a single service instance or item content having a single fee associated therewith.
Further, in a network where traffic is controlled at the service level, such as by a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) signaling application or a Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) application, the network service provider might still want to be able to charge for usage, such as by packet or traffic level, instead of simply based on a duration or period of usage, or a flat fee. As signaling typically is in a different layer than various media exchanges, this typically is not possible without separate specific transport or network level charging.